Entries in tv show
(4)

My mom used to say that watching TV would “rot your brain.” While I think she was probably right (fun fact: moms are always right), on occasion TV and movies can teach us a thing or two about our relationships. Here are ten relationship lessons that the writers at ScienceofRelationships.com have culled from TV shows and movies like Twilight, Mad Men, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory and many others:

1. Expose Yourself, Get Liked

In this case, “expose” means that you should be in close proximity so that the person sees you and can interact with you (so please keep your pants on). On How I Met Your Mother, Barney describes this idea in his “Mermaid Theory.” Read more here.

On the surface, Friday Night Lights is ostensibly about the culture of high school football in Dillon, TX. Yet, the central characters of the show aren’t football players at all. In many ways, Coach Eric Taylor and his wife Tami Taylor, and the relationship between them, will likely be the show’s legacy. What may very well be television’s best depiction of a quality relationship will end when the series comes to a close after 5 seasons. Or, as a much more accomplished television critic said,

“Friday Night Lights has always been the story of a football team and its coach, but it’s also been the story of a marriage - one of the most well-rounded, admirable, memorable marriages ever portrayed on television.” – Alan Sepinwall

Decades ago psychologists discovered that simply being close in physical proximity to another person increases liking and attraction for that person. Scientists call this the “mere exposure” effect. Earlier this season on How I Met Your Mother, the mere exposure phenomenon was in full effect, illustrated creatively through Barney Stinson’s "Mermaid Theory."

In two earlier posts, I began analyzing the marriage between Homer and Marge Simpson, one of America’s most enduring fictional TV couples. As reviewed in those posts, predicting the stability of any relationship can be done via application of the Investment Model,1 which states that commitment between partners derives from three sources: (1) satisfaction, (2) dependence (based on perceived alternatives), and (3) investment level.2 In this final installment, we’ll complete the analysis with the last variable, investments.